The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of hybrid Baptisia plant, botanically known as Baptisia ‘Sandstorm’ and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Sandstorm’. The new cultivar represents a new false indigo, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new invention arose from an ongoing breeding program in a dedicated test plot in Glencoe, Ill. The objective of the breeding program is to develop novel interspecific hybrids of Baptisia that exhibit unique flower coloration, hybrid vigor, ease of clonal propagation, and desirable plant habits.
‘Sandstorm’ was selected as a single unique plant by the Inventor in June of 2007 after evaluating seedlings that derived from a cross made in May of 2002. The female parent was an unnamed plant from the Inventor's breeding program that derived from open pollination of an interspecific hybrid Baptisia (australis×leucophaea). The male parent was Baptisia×bicolor ‘Starlite’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,971).
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by shoot tip cuttings in July of 2009 in Glencoe, Ill. under the direction of the Inventor. Asexual propagation by shoot tip cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.